Susan Granger’s review of “Adam” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
For those who like unusual, off-beat, uplifting stories, let me recommend this intimate glimpse into the life a young man with Asberger’s Syndrome (ASD). Asberger’s is a developmental disorder on the high-functioning autism specter that makes it difficult for someone not only to communicate his or her feelings and concerns but also to comprehend those of others.
Having lived a highly structured, regimented life, Adam Raki (Hugh Dancy) is a brilliant, 29 year-old electronics engineer who is fired from his job as a toy designer after the death of his beloved father and now fears losing his New York City apartment because he can’t pay the mortgage. What makes his task even more challenging is that he totally lacks the ordinary social skills necessary for a job interview. Instead of conversing, geeky Adam awkwardly delivers lengthy discourses on topics that interest him, like space exploration, astronomy, the raccoons that forage in Central Park at night and the history of some of the Off-Broadway theaters – unable to interpret cues that he’s boring others beyond endurance.
To his rescue comes his new neighbor, Beth Buchwald (Rose Byrne), a patient elementary school teacher and aspiring children’s book author whose compassion for his dilemma compels her to befriend and mentor Adam. Eventually, she also becomes romantically involved with him, much to the consternation of her protective parents (Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving), who are going through their own complicated, overly contrived life crises in a Westchester County courthouse.
Writer/director Max Mayer elicits multi-faceted, naturalistic performances from his entire cast, and both British actor Hugh Dancy (“Ella Enchanted”) and Australian actress Rose Byrne (Glenn Close’s protégé on TV’s “Damages”) demonstrate remarkably authentic American accents. Adroitly avoiding superficial short-cuts and stereotypes, Mayer falters only in his wobbly plot narrative, blending light comedy with pathos, and lack of subtlety about Adam’s obsessive behavior.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Adam” is a sensitive 7, exploring a bittersweet relationship that’s unusual and uncertain, demanding compromises and courage, and delivering an epilogue that’s both convincing and satisfying.
